Various computing devices are accessible over public communication networks, such as the Internet. While such access provides numerous opportunities to organizations utilizing such networks, it also presents substantial risk. For example, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have become a common way of utilizing distributed computing resources, often under unauthorized control, to overload the capacity of organizations' systems. A DDoS attack may, for example, include a collective group of computers, which may be located in various geographic locations, submitting multiple requests to a web or other server (or collection of servers) in order to utilize the server(s) capacity, thereby preventing the server(s) from responding to legitimate requests in a timely manner, if at all. For many organizations, such as organizations utilizing the Internet to interact with and/or otherwise service customers, preventing servers from responding to legitimate requests can cause significant harm to costs, revenue, customer goodwill, and in other ways. Not only is a DDoS victim prevented from servicing customers, but it may also be responsible for costs to Internet service providers (ISPs) for the increased network traffic attributable to DDoS attacks.
In addition, from the perspective of a victim of a DDoS attack, DDoS attacks often originate from one or more remote geographic locations. Because of the distributed nature of DDoS attacks, DDoS attacks often affect entities other than the intended victims. Communications made as part of a DDoS attack may traverse multiple ISPs, telecommunications carriers, and other entities. An ISP of a region where a significant portion of a DDoS attack originates may be required, for instance, to pay for excess traffic attributable to the DDoS attack to pass over other ISP's and/or carrier's networks. In addition, DDoS attacks may strain network resources such, thereby impeding or even halting the ability of various users to utilize the network resources. The affected users may include not only users of resources of the DDoS victim, but other users who may utilize the network resources.